What was Lost
by SilentLaughter
Summary: It's not every day that the Director of Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division comes to your door demanding entrance on 'official business', yet for Sara Williams that's exactly what happens. *SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE!* Bruce/OFC story!
1. Prelude

**Hello there Avengers fans! Welcome to my newest story based on the movie! _SPOILERS FOR THE_ MOVIE! ****Hope you all enjoy and thanks for taking the time to even bother reading it!(though sadly I own nothing but my original character*tears!*)**

Prelude~

The annoying buzzing sound of an alarm clock echoed throughout the tiny apartment bedroom, bouncing off the single window as if trying to escape. On a twin size bed lays a semi awake young woman with her hair splayed across her pillow, one hand underneath to support her head. A hand sneaks out from the cozy blanket and from the palm of the raised hand shoots out a blast of black fire, effectively hitting the damned alarm clock and sending the poor device across the room and against the wall. A groan comes from the figure cuddled in the security that is her blanket and a head peeks up to see the damage. There's no hole in the wall, but she's going to need to buy another alarm clock, again. As the figure slowly uses her elbows to rise up, stretching her back and arms over her head, she carefully gets out of the bed. Standing on her lean legs, the figure tilts her head side to side trying to wake up. The woman is tall, about five feet six inches with a toned figure after years of training. Her hair is ebony tinted with blue streaks, her face oval with a high forehead and cheekbones. Her nose is slightly turned upwards, her chin slightly pointed but not overly so but it's her eyes that catch everyone attention. Almond shaped, they are the color of blue ice with flecks of silver in the iris. So strange and unique are her eyes many simply dismiss them for contacts, if they only knew better. After forcing her brain to turn on, the woman walks out of the tiny bedroom into the kitchen/family/dining room of her apartment. Heading over towards the tiny kitchen she turns on the Keurig coffee maker and pulls out a cup before placing it under the machine. As she flits about the kitchen her phone begins to ring and she turns her head towards the offending sound wondering who the hell would call so damn early. Shrugging, she doesn't answer but instead lets the machine take it, the soft beep alerting her that someone actually is on the other end.

"Ms. Williams, it's me, I don't think I need to say who it is." the deep masculine voice says over the machine and jumping from surprise the woman drops her fresh cup of morning coffee.

"Damn it!" she cries as she grabs a towel to mop up her mess. As she does the voice continues on,

"I want you to buzz me in, it's rather important that I see you. It's official business if you catch my drift." groaning as she wipes up her spill, she tosses the towel into the sink before marching over to her call box, peering into the small screen to see a man dressed in all black from trench coat to boots standing in front of her apartment complex, his one eye not covered by an eye patch glaring into the camera.

"Shit it's really him." the woman says as she hits the 'enter' button on the box before rushing to get dressed. It's not every day that the Director of Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division comes to your door demanding entrance on 'official business'. After shutting her bedroom door and locking it, the woman grabs a pair of jeans off the floor and a bra before getting a blouse from the dresser. As she changes the man known only as Director Fury heads up the twenty story building towards the last door on the left hallway. When he's in front of the door he looks down at the mat that reads 'Get Lost!' and smirks. Back inside the apartment the woman is now clothed and unlocking her bedroom door goes over to her front door upon hearing the loud knocking, no, banging on her door. When said door is open she leans against the doorframe and looks the Director right in the good eye asking,

"What's up doc?" the man narrows his good eye before stepping around the woman and into the apartment, without her permission. Growling low in her throat, the woman shuts the door silently thinking to herself 'this isn't good'.

"Ms. Williams, what do you know of the Tesseract?" the man asks looking disdainfully around the kitchen/family/dining room.

"Not a thing, as usual." the woman replies now leaning against the closed door, her arms crossed over her chest.

"And what do you know of the Avengers Initiative?" the man asks turning his glare back to the woman, his face a hard mask of indifference. Sighing deeply before shaking her head, the woman repeats what she knows of the Top Secret 'Avengers Initiative'.

"The Avengers Initiative was set up to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. This was to include Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow and Hawkeye. But the project went belly up and never happened." when finished the woman looked to the man standing in the middle of her apartment before asking,

"What about it?"

"Were bringing it out of the dark." he said simply putting a manila envelope on her coffee table, words in bright red reading 'Top Secret' and 'Avengers Initiative'. Looking from the folder up to the man and back again, the woman laughs. And I mean really, really, laughs. With hands on her upper legs to support herself, the woman tries to calm the hell down when she realizes he's being one hundred percent serious. Standing back up, she whips away a tear of mirth before managing out,

"You really mean it don't you?"

"It's our last option at the moment." the man replies walking back over towards her, his hands behind his back. Coming to stop just before her, the man does a once over of the woman before saying,

"I'm offering you a proposition."

"Go on." the woman says glaring hard at the fact she has some idea of what he's going to say.

"I want you to join the team, suit up. Join the fight you've been training for your whole life-"

"The life you stole!" she retorts angrily and stepping around the massive wall that is Director Fury she huffs her way over to the coffee table to grab the folder. Just as she picks it up she hears him say,

"You still have red in YOUR folder." that cuts deep, deeper than he actually means and he makes that revelation when he sees her body being slowly engulfed with black fire. Slowly reaching for his sidearm, the man holds on to it as he raises the other hand saying,

"Calm down Sara." he uses her name, her first name and this amazingly does the trick for the flames dissolve themselves. When the fire is put out, so to speak, the woman looks at the Director and says,

"Count me in, as long as I get your WORD that the red comes out." with a tight smile, the man removes his hand from the sidearm and keeps his hand out for her to take.

"Deal." he says simply as she takes the hand and shakes it. After she shakes his hand, her hand being much warmer than his despite the fact she no longer was on fire, the Director puts his hand to his ear and presses on the small earpiece saying into it,

"Agent Nightshade is suiting up." which gets a wicked smile from the woman as she lifts her free hand and it erupts into flame.


	2. Chapter One

**Hey there faithful followers! I decided to post another chapter since I will be away for a while and will not be able to add any chapters while I'm gone. Hope ya'll enjoy and review! (hands out free cookies!)**

Chapter One~

After my surprised meeting with Director Fury, I had only four hours to pack a bag, tell whoever I needed that I was leaving and to make arrangements with my apartment. I took two of those hours to call everyone; those people only being my landlord and boss at the club I work. One hour went to packing and the other hour reading over the file that Director Fury gave me. Inside had the works of the new 'Avengers Initiative' with the names and short description of everyone. Tony aka Iron Man Stark I knew, along with Black Widow aka Natasha Romanov, Hawkeye aka Clint Barton and Steve Rogers aka Captain America. The two names I didn't know where Doctor Bruce Banner and Thor, though the last one made me for some reason think back to a mythology lesson in college. Shaking my head, I took the file and placed it into my backpack, the only thing I would be bringing with me. At precisely four o'clock a knock came to my door and opening found Agent Phil Coulson standing behind it.

"Nice to see you again Agent Nightshade." he says as I step out of the apartment, locking it up with my keys and not paying any attention to him. When I was ready I merely nodded my head and he began leading me out the building, down twenty stories and out into the streets of New York City. When we got out of the building I noticed waiting for us a black four door Escalade and wondered silently when they decided to go gangster. As Coulson opened the back passenger side door for me I forced a smile before getting inside. Inside I was met with two black suited agents just like Coulson, one on my left and the other driving. When Coulson got into the free seat I buckled up and felt a hand go near my eyes. Instantly I set my hand ablaze and turned to the man sitting beside me with a glare.

"Don't even think about it!" I shouted to him, my voice echoing throughout the car. With my hand ablaze, the agent actually screamed apparently never being told of my little gift of mankind. His eyes were fixed on my black flame covered hand as Coulson said,

"You shouldn't have made her angry Agent Kyle." the man named Kyle only nodded as I slowly let the fire extinguish itself. Still fixing my gaze on his face, I said in a growl,

"Don't, do, something, stupid, like, that, again!" again he merely nodded as the car began to take off, getting into the traffic that is NYC. Coulson turned round to face me as I leaned back in my seat to say,

"You didn't have to go all crazy on him Sara."

"And he didn't have to put his hands in my personal space." I replied simply narrowing my eyes at the older man before me. He nodded but looked grim as he turned back to face the windshield. The drive to the undisclosed airport took several long hours, luckily for me I had brought my Ipod else they would have had to pull over and get me something to entertain me with. After the several hours we came to a seemingly abandoned airport were only one black jet was waiting on the tarmac. When the car came to a stop, at last, I got out and was met by Agent Hill, the goody-goody. She gave me a smile that I didn't return as I headed up the stairs and into the jet.

"Don't worry about her; she's already threatened to blow up Agent Kyle for being a dumb ass." I heard Coulson say to her as I took a seat, again buckling myself into the jet. When Agent Hill got aboard with Coulson she gave me a hard look before saying,

"I don't know why he came to you." it was a statement, not a question and I took it with a grain of salt. Or more like a cup full.

"Well I didn't want to come on your little field trip to Hell but seeing as if he agreed to get the Red out of my folder, I came along for the ride." I said in responds crossing my arms over myself and silently asking her with my eyes to 'bring it'. She simply rolled her eyes before taking a seat near the pilot who called out,

"Everyone strapped in?" Coulson and I only nodded as the plane built up momentum down the runway before slowly lifting off into the air effectively leaving behind NYC. I knew we'd be heading to the famous Hellicarier and so settled in for a long ride but it seemed Coulson wanted to talk.

"So, you're the famous Nightshade?" he asked me as I tried to listen to my Ipod again. Sighing deeply I turned to face him seeing as if he was sitting next to me and said,

"Look, whatever you were told wasn't the whole truth. SHIELD is famous for hiding all the facts from its employees." one of his eyebrows rose at this before he actually laughed at me saying as he did,

"You know, you're right."

"Of course I'm right, I've been in SHIELDs files as long as I can remember. Oh, about twenty some years?" I said in an annoyed tone before returning to my music.

"What you do to get on their Black List?" he asked me over my music and causing me to growl again. Slowly turning my head towards him, I said in a deadly little voice,

"Nothing that concerns you buddy boy." here the man looked to my hands before saying,

"Just don't blow up the plane." at this I smirked before saying,

"I won't, so don't worry."

"Around you? I always worry." he said leaning back in his seat and sighing heavily allowing me to get back to my music. The ride went too fast for me, with no windows I couldn't tell how long we'd been up in the air so when the pilot called out that we were landing I was surprised. Bracing myself for the landing, I held tightly onto my bag as the jet began its touchdown onto the Hellicarier's tarmac. With a violent jerk of the jet we landed with a hiss of the engine. As I unbuckled myself both Coulson and Hill got out and onto the deck of the Hellicarier leaving me to get out alone. Once I stepped onto the deck Director Fury was there, his hands behind his back.

"Glad to see you with us." he said though I knew he knew I was coming.

"Yeah, nice to see you too Nicky." I said as I followed Hill and Coulson into the depths of the Hellicarier. I could almost feel the smirk on his face at my comment as we headed into the flying base of SHIELD. Inside was just like some sort of military ship, people in uniform milling about with all of them glancing at me as I passed.

"You're needed in the lab, I believe Doctor Banner is already there." Hill said to me turning her head to point to a door labeled smartly 'Laboratory'. Glancing from the door to her retreating figure I called out,

"You know I know almost nothing on Gamma right?" but she didn't respond heading to where I guess the bridge is. Groaning I opened the door and stepped into one of the largest labs I've ever seen, and I'm a biomedical/chemistry/nuclear physic major. Glancing around at the fancy computer screens with no keyboards, the monitors with no wires and the tables littered with equipment I noticed a man standing behind a desk, busy typing away on the screen. His hair was dark brown, peppered with gray streaks and black rimmed glasses before cinnamon eyes. Dressed in a purple dress shirt and brown slacks, he certainly looked the part save the lab coat.

"Hey, doc." I called out to get his attention. His cinnamon eyes glanced up at me and I noticed the flecks of gold in them as they searched my face. Blinking twice, he stepped around the desk and came over asking,

"And you are?" taking my free hand from my backpack strap, I held it out for him to take saying,

"I'm Sara Williams, though I've doubt you've heard about me."

"What? The Sara Williams, graduate of MIT at the age of what was it? Sixteen?" he asks causing me to laugh an honest laugh, which is rarely heard by my peers.

"Yeah, guess you have heard of me then." I replied stepping around him to put down my backpack on a table.

"Heard of you, why, you mastered biomedical/chemistry/nuclear physics at the young age of sixteen only to drop off the radar two years later. I think anyone who studies in those fields knows your name." he said turning round to watch me, taking off his glasses to clean them on his shirt. Laughing again, again an honest laugh, I turned round to say,

"Yeah well, I really didn't want to be found after what happened." and here the man raised one thick eyebrow in question, so, he hadn't heard about the _Other_ side of me. Sighing deeply, I rubbed my forehead trying to explain in a non-exposing way.

"Ever heard of Nightshade?" I asked him at last causing his eyes to go wide, meaning yes. Taking the hand from my forehead I pointed it at myself and said,

"You're looking at her." his face twisted with amazement, wonder and worry at this, a thing I'm sadly used to.

"You—you're Nightshade? The one on SHIELDS Black List?" he asked me his voice clear with confusion. Nodding my head I sighed before taking a seat on the table letting my legs swing back and forth.

"Yup, surprise, surprise right? Well, don't worry, half the things SHIELD says about me aren't true. Same with you doc. They say you're a mindless killing machine when really you're a caring, gentle and understanding man." I say causing him to blush slightly at my kind words. Rubbing the back of his neck he asked,

"Where'd you hear that?" smiling slightly I said simply,

"I have my sources." he chuckled at this and went back to his computer screen saying as he did,

"So, you're here to help me then?"

"Guess so. Or at least try seeing as if I wasn't majoring in Gamma radiation." I said taking up a screen that floated in the air near me. Typing in my key access code I was able to make it onto the mainframe of SHIELD, or at least what I was allowed access too.

"So, tell me, what's the-" but my word were cut off when I looked up and spotted four heavily armored men walking in rank around a tall, ink haired man in a strange Halloween costume. His hands were chained before him, his face surprisingly cool for someone in chains as he looked over at Doc Banner who shifted uncomfortably. When the stranger's eyes landed on me I had to gasp, they were the color of wintergreen mint with an intensity I've never seen before. With a shiver, I watched him turn his head away back in front of him as the men lead him out of sight.

"Well, who the hell was that?!" I asked turning to see Banner who was twitching slightly. Furrowing my brows, I stood from my seat and headed over to him asking gently,

"You ok?" he whipped his head to me, as if seeing me for the first time and sighed out,

"That's the guy everyone's worked up over." feeling one eyebrow rise at this, I wondered if Mr. Stranger was the reason the Avengers were called in. The sound of a knock caused both me and Banner to look up to see Coulson standing in the doorway.

"You two are wanted on the bridge." he said calmly as if whatever tension in the room didn't affect him.

"Goody then." I mused heading over to the man but turned when I didn't feel the doc behind me. Turning, I smiled warmly at the man who still looked shaken up before saying,

"Come on Jolly Green."


	3. Chapter Two

**Can you believe it! I'm back ya'll! Know what that means? Another chapter for you lovely readers!**

Chapter Two~

When we made it to the bridge it was a room packed full of people in uniform at computer screens with a small section reserved for a meeting space. One whole wall was windows that looked out over the seas, the people talking to one another give out quadrant's and things like that. Sitting at a black shiny top table were Black Widow, Captain America, with who I had to guess was Thor standing. In the middle of the table was a screen showing the man from earlier in a circular glass cage with Fury standing beside it by a control panel. As we entered the meeting area all of them turned to see us, Natasha noticing me first before going to Banner. Her eyes gave me a silent warning 'don't mess up' and I narrowed my eyes at her, how dare she! So what if she's one of the best Top Agents this crazy military group has to offer, she had Red in her folder too!

"In case it's unclear, you try to escape- you so much as scratch that glass-" Fury says getting my attention back onto the screen, everyone else doing the same. We watch as Fury raised a glass case with one of those enormous red buttons that sits inside and as he does the floor of the cage opens up to reveal the skies below.

"Thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" he says gesturing from the control panel over to the stranger before closing the glass making the floor close as well.

"Ant. Boot." he says getting a mild chuckle out of the prisoner.

"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." says the stranger looking dead at the camera as if into the souls of everyone watching. I notice from the corner of my eye Banner squirm and wonder what's eating his skin.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Fury replies harshly now getting a full on laugh from the man, his face glittering with a movie star smile though his eyes are acid.

"Oh I've heard. A mindless beast-makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?" the man says and know I realize he actually means Banner. Again I look to the doctor whose taking it surprisingly well despite the fact he can turn into a freaking monster in a blink of an eye.

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did." Fury says, and as he does his voice goes from calm to downright pissed the hell off. The man makes a hurt face, bringing one hand up to his chest and groans as if in pain before laughing some more.

"Ooh. It burns you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power- unlimited power, and for what? A warm light for all mankind to share? And then to be reminded what real power is." and again he glances at the camera directly facing it, his eyes searching for something though what I'm not sure.

"Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something." I hear Fury say as he walks away, the screen going dark before vanishing altogether. There's a pause, no noise besides the mindless worker bees at their stations.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" I hear the doc saying and as I turn to him his face has a forced smile on it.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" asks the Great America Man to the giant of a man in the same weird Halloween type costume as the stranger, who I guess is Loki. When I look at the guy I notice a giant megaton hammer on the table.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor any world known. He means to lead against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." the giant blond man says, his hand on his chin as he talks. When his eyes look around those assembled he looks to me with question, but doesn't get an answer for Rogers says,

"An army, from outer space?"

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Banner says as I slowly take a seat away from Natasha and Steve, silently wondering what the hell they're talking about. Nothing in the notes said anything about an alien army from outer space coming through some science fiction portal.

"Selvig?" the man named Thor asks his face full of recognition.

"He's an astrophysicist." Banner says causing something in my head to actually know what they mean. The man rings a bell, Selvig had been working on some SHIELD secret project after whatever the hell happened in New Mexico a year ago. Thank goodness I rejected working down there when I had the chance, otherwise I might have been picked up by SHIELD sooner than later.

"He's a friend." Thor says coming to stand near the doctor whose still a bit shaken from crazy man Loki's words.

"Loki has them under some kind of spell-along with one of ours." Natasha says causing me to look towards her and see her face full of hurt and sadness. Oh, I realize, she means Clint aka Hawkeye. I knew she like him.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Roger says pounding on the table and nearly breaking it, getting a not needed chuckle out of me. He really is a Super Soldier isn't he?

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you can smell crazy on him." I hear Banner saying before his footsteps come to stand behind me, a hands resting on the back of my chair. Rolling my eyes at his words, I couldn't agree more with the guy.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother." Thor says pointing one meaty finger at the doctor whose face I can't read since he's behind me.

"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha says bringing the man down from whatever level of existence he was on.

"He-he's adopted." the man replies returning to his original position standing with one hand under his chin.

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium, what do they need the Iridium for?" Banner says from behind me and as he finished I hear footfalls coming towards us and turn to see the famous and wise cracking Tony Stark who cries out,

"It's a stabilizing agent." before stopping by Coulson saying something under his breath that I can't hear.

"Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD." he continues coming over to stand by Thor before giving him a slap on the shoulder saying to him,

"No hard feelings, point break, you got a mean swing. Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants." when finished with his speech Tony walks over to a large control panel where I can only guess Fury stands and calls out,

"Ah-raise the mizzen mast, lower the topsail. That man is playing Galaga. Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." which causes everyone to stop whatever there doing to stare questioningly at the man who calls himself a genius. I watch as he covers one eye and turns from screen to screen asking as he does,

"How does Fury even see these?" now I have to laugh, he's playing at being Director Fury, not my favorite man on the earth.

"He turns." I hear Agent Hill say. As I laugh I get and annoyed look from Steve Rogers who turns to me asking,

"And who are you?"

"Sara Williams aka Nightshade reporting for duty sir." I say in a mocking tone raising one hand and saluting the Super Soldier. His eyes gaze at me questionably before Natasha says,

"She's a rouge who blew up half of Massachusetts."

"Yeah but I was only sixteen so in my defense I didn't mean to." I growl out glaring daggers at the red headed assassin who glares right on back.

"But, why would you do that?" Steve asks doing a look over on me. Being only twenty five means I get a lot of stares, and being that I'm one of the brightest students in the field means I get even more, in the right setting. This though isn't the right setting and his look is one of one question 'who the hell are you?'.

"Because she has the ability that when angry to emit black flames from her person, blowing up or setting anyone in her path ablaze." Natasha says giving me a cheeky grin that I have to retort to by saying,

"Your one to talk little miss lover. While your boyfriend is under mind control you're here for the same reason I am."

"And that is?" she asks with a death glare.

"To get Red out of your folder." I reply smugly knowing that will shut her the hell up, and it does.

"Girls, no cat fights please, at least not yet." I hear Tony say as he comes over towards me but because I'm pissed so damned off I let my whole right hand turn to flame and ask him,

"Want to say that again buddy?" he simply raises one eyebrow at my party trick before returning to the control panels typing something into the screen. His right hand however puts something under the screens case and I smirk knowing he's doing something very illegal right now.

"The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source-of high energy density. Something to-kick start the Cube." he says getting everyone back on track, or at least trying to anyway. But Steve is staring at my hand, Natasha glaring holes into my skull, Thor laughing his head off and Banner doing, well, I don't know seeing as if he hasn't moved from behind my chair.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" I ask Tony letting my hand go back to normal as I speak.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers -am I the only one who did the reading?" Tony asks looking around at the group with an amazed look on his face. I roll my eyes and say under my breath,

"If I had gotten the notes I would have read them thanks."

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asks recovering from his panic attack upon seeing my hand encased in black fire.

"He's have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Banner says and as he speaks I feel one hand come very close to my head making me wonder what the hell is he doing?

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the Quantum Tunneling effect." Tony remarks leaving his post at the control panel and walking over towards the doc whose hand has now left the vicinity around my head. Out of the corner of my eye I see him go stand near Tony to say,

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." at this Tony slaps the man on the shoulder causing him to jump as he smiles and says,

"Finally. Someone who speaks English."

"Is that what just happened?" I ask in a sarcastic voice totally forgetting about Little Ms. Glare and the Amazed Wonder Boy. As Tony and Banner shake hands it's Tony that says,

"It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you- lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"...Thanks." Banner says shyly removing his hand to rub his neck. Just then I hear the well-known sound of Fury's boots walking into the room and his voice calling out,

"Doctor Banner is only here to track the Cube. I was hoping you might join him."

"I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve says pointing at Banner with one finger and getting a nod out of the man.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube. And I like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." Fury says in an aggravated tone.

"Monkey-? I do not understand—" Thor says but Steve cuts him off jumping out of his chair saying,

"I do! I-I understood that reference." getting us all to stare at him like he's the crazy one in the room.

"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony asks Banner who agrees and as the two head off I hear Fury say,

"Ms. Williams will be going as well."

"Oh really? Since when?" I ask standing from my seat and turning to look at the Director. He just calmly looks at me saying,

"Since I said so." in an annoyed tone. Sighing and rolling my eyes, I walk over past him to the two men and put a hand on either man's shoulder saying,

"Come on kiddies! Time to play in the pool!"


	4. Chapter Three

**NEW CHAPTER! *KERMIT FLAIL!***

Chapter Three~

As we walk through the corridor with the men ahead of me, it's Tony who asks,

"So you're the infamous Nightshade then?" rolling my eyes at his cheeky grin I say simply,

"Get over yourself Stark." and here he laughs, putting one hand on my shoulder but quickly removing it with a wince on his face.

"Why are you boiling hot?" he asks waving his hand to try and get it cool. Banner is staring at me like I'm still on fire as I say calmly,

"Because my temperature when I use my powers is higher than the average human being." as I'm talking we've arrived at the lab, stepping inside and dispersing about the lab to different screens.

"Wait, so you're always that hot when you use your 'power'?" Banner asks in a confused voice and when I nod his eyes widen to twice the normal limit.

"Long story shot?" I ask getting eager nods from both of them, the men clearing wanting to know what the hell is wrong with me. Sighing, I lean against the table and start my long overdue speech,

"When I was little my dad, being the science wise kid he was, had a lab in the basement of our house. He was working on some project for SHIELD when I was four, and I for some reason beyond me wanted to play with his 'toys' as I called them. So one day when he hadn't locked the basement door, I went downstairs and began to play. That cause a nuclear reaction with the chemicals he was keeping down there which blew up the house. Both my parents died instantly, me, I somehow survived the blast only to be found by SHIELD agents. So I was whisked away into the world of SHIELD, sent off to MIT when I was fifteen seeing as if I had graduated high school then and graduated the next year."

"That's when you blew up half of Mass right?" asks Tony, whose leaning on his hands under his chin apparently enthralled by my story. Banner however looks upset and I smile at him saying,

"I was only sixteen when my so called 'powers' came to me, and seeing as if I was only sixteen I couldn't control them and yes, blew up half of Mass. I've had Red in my folder ever since." and looking down at my twisting hands sigh deeply, wishing I hadn't just given away half of my life story. Tony clears his throat before going back to work, his fingers methodically typing on the screen. With my head still lowered, my hair around my face, I spy a hand timidly reaching for mine and allow the hand to take one of my own. Looking up, I see its Banner holding my hand with his face sympathetic.

"I'm sorry you lost your parents, at such a young age." he says but I shrug it off saying,

"Don't be, it's not like I went to Hell for it." he sighs as he gives my hand a gently squeeze before dropping it, going over to another screen to being work. Sighing at the loss of contact, I go over to a screen myself and start to work. I notice Bruce walking over to where the supposed 'scepter' is lying and taking some type of scanner says,

"The Gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process."

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the homework cluster we can clock this at around six hundred teraflops." Tony replies simply as he continues to type getting a chuckle out of the man by my side.

"And all I packed was a toothbrush." Bruce says getting a giggle out of me and I have to say,

"Should have thought more on that doc." he looks up at me and winks before returning to work.

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower some time. Top ten floors- all R and D. You'd love it, it's a candy land." Tony says laughing at Bruce who stops his scan to type something on his screen.

"Thanks but- last time I was in New York I kind of- broke- Harlem." he replies sheepishly looking up at the two of us to gauge our reactions.

"Yeah well you didn't set half of Mass on fire now did you?" I ask getting a full two minutes of silence from the two.

"Wrong thing to say huh?" I ask now the one feeling sheepish. As I speak Tony has moved away from his screen taking with him something that I can only guess is some science tool into his hand. As he walks towards Bruce he says,

"Well, I promise a stress free environment. No tension, no surprises." and then he takes the thing in his hand and zaps the poor doctor getting a yelp out of him.

"Ow!" he cries just as Steve walks into the lab and upon seeing Tony zapping Bruce says,

"Hey!" both men look to the Captain, Tony looking amused and Bruce looking worried.

"Nothing?" Tony asks returning his gaze to Bruce who glares at Tony in return. Shrugging, Tony walks away from Bruce and over towards me but I light my hand on fire saying 'don't bother'.

"Are you nuts?" Steve asks Tony giving the man a hard glare as he walks about the lab casually as if he's not in trouble.

"Jury's still out." I say to Steve getting a chuckle out of both Tony and Bruce. Steve doesn't chuckle, instead he glares hard before returning his attention to Tony who says to Bruce,

"You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?" now I have to laugh, trying to imagine Bruce Banner aka Hulk listening to mellow jazz, banging on bongo drums and smoking pot. The mental image is too wonderful to even explain.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve demands his voice rising in his anger.

"Funny things are." Tony says simply grabbing a metal bag out of a draw and opening it begins to eat whatever is inside.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." Steve says harshly before looking guilty at Bruce to says softly,

"Sorry Doctor." turning to look at the man in question he merely shrugs at Steve before glancing over to me saying,

"No-uh- it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle- pointy things." and at the last bit he glares over at a casual looking Tony, munching on his snack.

"You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut." Tony says getting up and indeed strutting about the room getting a giggle out of me, man does he look ridiculous!

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mister Stark." Steve says glaring hard at the man strutting about the lab. But at his words Tony stops and looks right at Steve saying,

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now, why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables." I hate to say it, but he does have a point, and as he finishes he looks to me and says,

"I mean, two people with Red in their folder? Doesn't make sense."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" asks Steve in a new voice, this one utterly concerned for what Tony is thinking. By now both me and Bruce are standing next to one another watching the scene before us unfold. I glance over at Bruce to see him looking right at me and when he catches my eye he blushes and looks away.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging him to, isn't it?" and Tony gestures at Bruce who looks up with a confused expression.

"Aah- I just wanna finish my work here and-" tries Bruce going back over to his computer screen to type but Steve stops him midway saying,

"Doctor?" sighing deeply, Bruce stops right by his computer screen and looks around at the other three of us.

"'A warm light for all mankind,' Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube." he says gently getting a confused look from the two of us; Steve and me.

"I heard it." Steve answers as I can see the inner workings of his brain trying to understand.

"Well, I think that was meant for you." Bruce says looking to Tony who just holds out his metal bag in offering, but Bruce merely shakes one hand saying no. Shrugging, Tony offers me the same and I take a handle of the treat, popping them into my mouth. To my surprise I find that the snack is blueberries, who'd have thought?

"Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news." Bruce finished waving one hand in the air as he does.

"The Stark Tower? That big ugly-building in New York?" tries Steve who gets an angry glare from Tony who takes back his bag, causing Steve to change his words.

"It's powered by an arc reactor, self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for, what, a year?" I ask Tony who looked really impressed that I have noticed something he's done. An amused smile crosses his face as he says to Steve,

"It's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now, that's what she's getting at."

"So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? Wh- what are they even doing in the energy business in the first place?" asks Bruce taking off his glasses to rub them on his shirt before putting them back on his face. I have to say, without his glasses he looks a lot better.

"I should probably look into that as soon as my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files." Tony says triumphantly as he goes back to his computer screen, typing in something. I feel one eyebrow rise at this and hold back a smirk realizing that that was what he was doing on the bridge.

"I'm sorry did you say-?" Steve tries but Tony cuts him off saying quickly and in a cheeky tone,

"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?" and holding out the bag to the Super Soldier he gets it smacked away from his hand, almost spilling on the ground. Tony looks upset at this and removes his hand from Steve trying to save his precious blueberries.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around." Steve says in a questioning tone crossing his arms over his muscular chest.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome." Tony states calmly going back to his screen to read whatever is on it.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them." Steve says defiantly, like a kid being told he can't have his presents until after he eats his broccoli.

"Following's not really my style." Tony sighs not bothering to look up at the giant man who stands in the middle of the room.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve demands getting both me and Bruce to glance at each other with a worried face. In my mind I can see Steve 'Hulking' out, and it's not a pretty picture believe me.

"Out of the people in this room, which one is A) wearing a spangley outfit and B) not of use?" Tony asks counting on his fingers as he chews his snack, his eyes fixed on Steve.

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" I have to ask him getting a hard glare from the Super Solider, as if I'm the traitor or something. I raise my hands in defense and shrink back to say that I'm innocent.

"Just find the Cube." Steve growls out before turning around and stomping out of the lab, his footsteps echoing throughout the room.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice." Tony says giggling like a girl as he sets down his snack bag, whipping his hands on his jeans so he can continue typing on the screen.

"Guy's not wrong about Loki, he does have the jump on us." Bruce says having gone back to his own screen to work as well. Me? I'm playing Minesweeper.

"What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit. It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does." Tony says glancing over at me and trying to see what I'm doing.

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" he asks me getting a sigh in responds.

"No one gave me Selvig's notes, that and I have not a clue about Gamma radiation so, in short, no." I say getting Tony to raise an eyebrow.

"But you graduated MIT at sixteen, right?" he asks me.

"Yeah, but again, it wasn't majoring in Gamma." I say hotly trying to make him leave me the hell alone.

"Yeah well, I'll read all about it." Bruce says cutting off our building argument which makes me in debt to him.

"Mhm, or, you'll be suiting up with the rest of us." Tony says returning to his screen though still chuckling over the fact I'm clueless.

"Now, you see, I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve, it's a nightmare." Bruce says in a very tied voice causing me to look over at him, and seeing the bags under his eyes feels for the guy.

"You know, I've got a cluster shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart. This- stops it-" Tony says tapping his chest and the glowing blue spot in it.

"- this little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a terrible privilege." he finishes, then looking over to me says,

"And she can light things on fire! Blow shit up!" getting me to roll my eyes.

"But you can control it." I say sadly noticing Bruce turning to glance at me.

"Because I learned how." Tony says softly coming to stand before me and putting a hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me.

"It's different." I hear Bruce say, his voice filled with the same amount of hurt that mine had. Tony goes over to stand near Bruce and whips away the screen he's been working on saying as he does,

"Hey, I read all about your accident. That much Gamma exposure- should've killed you."

"So you're saying that the Hulk- the Other Guy- saved my life? That's nice. That's a nice sentiment. Saved it for- what?" Bruce asks irritatingly.

"I guess we'll find out." I said making both men turn to see me, their faces filled with wonder.

"You may not enjoy that." Bruce says looking straight at me, his face trying to convey some message.

"And you just might enjoy it." Tony says back at him. I can't help but smile at that and this gets a soft smile on Bruce's face. To myself I silently think he needs to smile more.


	5. Chapter Four

**You know what I find weird? That I have more followers than reviews…this kinda annoys me. Should those who only follow and not review see this, please know I AM WATCHING YOU! O.O**

Chapter Four~

It's a short while later that after several plays of Minesweeper my stomach growls making both men look up at me.

"Sorry guys, never ate." I say feeling a blush creeping on my face. Bruce smiles warmly at me before saying,

"Go ahead, get something to eat. I doubt blueberries will hold you." laughing at that, I stand from my seat and stretch my back before realizing I have no idea where the cafeteria is.

"Uh, do either of you know where the cafeteria is?" I ask now feeling the blush go up my face into my hairline.

"Sure, come on darling." Tony says taking my elbow and leading me towards the door.

"But-" I start to say but Tony cuts me off saying,

"Banner will be fine on his own. Right guy?" and here he turns to look at Bruce whose looking at me. Clearing his throat, Tony gets his attention and Bruce now blushes.

"Right." he says simply before going back to his computer screen.

"See? Come on little darling." Tony says dragging me out of the lab and into the hallway. As we walk, with my elbow in his hand he starts to talk saying,

"You know Mr. Green likes you right?" nearly tripping on my own shoes, I look up at his face and say,

"And you know this how?"

"Oh, it's only that he kept giving you the look in the lab. Licking his lips and trying so damn hard." what the hell is he say, I wish I knew.

"Oh come on! Don't tell me you didn't notice!" he says in shock and getting a few glances from crew we pass. Glaring up at him, I remove my elbow from his hold and say,

"Notice what then?" he rolls his eyes much like a little kid and says,

"You really didn't notice?" and when I shake my head he laughs hard and says,

"Too bad! Then I'm not going to tell you!" and off he walks away from me and back towards the lab. Damn it! Damn you Tony Stark! Growling low, I turn around and look at those staring at me and say,

"What you looking at?" effectively making everyone go back to work. Apparently word spreads fast around here, I'll need to remember that. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sigh deeply and look up to where Tony had walked off to. It takes a few seconds, but I follow his now missing figure back to the lab. But when I get there all hell is about to break loose. Inside not only is Director Fury there, but Natasha, Steve and Thor too. On one table is a very wicked looking gun and I stopped halfway through the door to look at it. It's like a super charge AK-47, with a laser scope on top, in short, unlike anything I've ever seen before in my life. And I've unfortunately been around the block with guns a few times.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." I hear Bruce say as I enter the room as quietly as possible.

"Loki's manipulating you." Natasha says to him but I scoff and wonder aloud,

"And you've been doing what exactly?" this gets everyone's attention on me, Natasha looking ready to kill me. Huffing, she turns back to Bruce saying,

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Bruce replies looking to the Director for an answer. His answer simply is to point at Thor, the other giant in the room.

"Me?" Thor asks raising one eyebrow in question.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out-gunned." Fury says as he steps around the room carefully, as if walking on the eggshells that have dropped before I got in. When he stops he's staring at the blond who stares back and shouts,

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled." Fury says sharply glaring with his good eye at the man in armor.

"Like you controlled the cube?" I say causing the Director to look at me and say,

"You're not part of this!"

"I am since you BROUGHT me, remember? Or did your memory get messed up when you lost your eye?" I remark getting a cold death glare from him.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war." Thor says getting the attention back on him as I feel myself heating up, again. Natasha who is nearest me notices and almost smiles at me, though I don't know why.

"A higher form?" Steve asks wondering what the hell Thor means before turning to see me. Looking down at myself with my feet incased in the familiar black flames I close my eyes trying to make them go the hell away.

"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something." Fury says his voice close to me, apparently seeing my pants ablaze.

"A nuclear deterrent, cause that always calms everything right down." I hear Tony say and when I open my eyes his arms are crossed over his chest, and he's standing in front of me with his back to me. Fury glares daggers at him as he says,

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-" Steve starts to say but Tony turns sharply on his heel to look at the man saying,

"Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve sneers making Tony growl in his throat. Looking over at Thor he's trying to contain his laughter as he says,

"I thought humans were more evolved than this."

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury demands yelling at the man, his hands dangerously close to his sidearm.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Thor cries throwing his hands up in the air in defeat.

"It's his MO, isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're- we're a time bomb." Bruce says standing from where he had been leaning to look around at us, his hand waving around as he speaks.

"You need to step away." Fury says to him raising one hand to him as the other stays near his always there gun.

"Why shouldn't they guy let off a little steam?" Tony asks still standing in front of me though he's slightly closer to Steve who shouts,

"You know damn well why! Back off!" and here Tony steps right into Steve's personal space to say,

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?" Steve asks his voice speaking volumes of hate. Rolling my eyes I muttered under my breath,

"He's a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." thankfully no one hears me when I say this but Steve continues to talk saying,

"I know guys with the worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." here Tony laughs and throws his head back for dramatic effect before saying in a very cheeky voice,

"I think I would just cut the wire."

"Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero." Steve says standing, no, looming over Tony as if he was just a kid. But Tony won't back down, that's 'not his style' so to say,

"A hero, like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." and at that Steve punches his own hand saying,

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds." for some reason here Thor laughs and looking around the room before saying simply,

"You people are so petty, and tiny." I have to agree there, besides him and Steve everyone else is small compared to them. I wonder if they get loss of air being so damn high?

"Yeah, this is a team." Bruce says going back over towards the table with the scepter which I notice has started to glow blue lightly. As I wonder why, I continue to hear the argument grow louder and louder until it's just a blur in my mind. Natasha says something annoying protective of SHIELD while Bruce demands to know why where all on a List which gets Natasha to respond with,

"We all are." and here she looks to me as if trying to point me out, which ticks me the hell off. As Tony says some smart ass comment to Steve I see Bruce trying to calm himself down, which doesn't seem to be working. Fixing my eyes on him, I start to make my way over to him when Fury says,

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-" but Bruce cuts in shouting out,

"Where? You rented my room."

"The cell was just-" Fury tries but again Bruce cuts in saying loudly,

"In case you needed to kill me. But you can't, I know, I've tried!" and here everyone stares openly at him, his loud breathing the only sound in the room.

"I got low. I didn't see an end so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" and as he's talking I notice he's picked up the now glowing bright spear, Fury and Natasha getting out their guns before I say to Bruce softly,

"Bruce, please put down the scepter." and at my voice Bruce looks to me with questioning eyes, before looking down at the hand that has the spear. His face visibly pales as he drops it back onto the table saying as he does,

"Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my party trick after all." just as a beeping cuts through the thick air.

"Located the Tesseract?" Thor asks as both Tony and Bruce being furiously typing on the screens, both seeming to be having a race.

"I can get there faster." Tony says as he quickly scans the screen before heading towards the door but Steve stops him saying,

"Look, all of us-" but he's cut off by the booming voice of Thor who says,

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it." and as Tony tries to escape Steve, the man stops him grabbing his arm and saying harshly,

"You're not going alone!"

"You gonna stop me?" Tony asks looking from the hand holding his arm to Steve's face.

"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve says making me roll my eyes. Men, why must they always want to fight?

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony remarks but that gets another 'put the suit on' demand from Steve. By now I've gone over towards Bruce whose typing madly at the screen and when I see why I gasp.

"Oh my god." he says aloud and just then some incredibly large blow rocks the ship, throwing everyone in different directions. Me, Bruce and Natasha are thrown through a window and fall several stories into the depths of the Hellicarier. Both me and Natasha scream as we fall, my hand reaching out for something to grab onto and indeed I grab something, Bruce's arm.


	6. Chapter Five

**Yet another chapter for my lovely readers! Drama, drama, drama is all I can say! Does anybody else feel bad for Bruce besides me?**

Chapter Five~

When I'm able to open my eyes, my head is throbbing like a bitch and I'm grabbing on for life to something. Once my vision clears I realize its Bruce's arm, and boy does he not look so good. As I glance around the area, I find that we've landed in one of the engine rooms within the ship and spy Natasha with one leg under a beam or something.

"We're okay." I hear her say into her earpiece, something I never got and as she looks over at Bruce, who now is shaking and twitching asks,

"We're okay, right?" turning back to Bruce I can see he's trying so damn hard to keep the 'other guy' in his mental cage and again it's not going so well. Already I can feel his arm bulging from his rage. When I hear the sound of feet I look up to see two mechanics running over to us, one asking,

"You guys alright?" but I wave them away, pleading with my eyes for them to scram else they get beaten up by Hulk. When they realize whose on the ground twitching they flee the scene faster than any Olympic sprinter I know.

"Doctor? Bruce, you gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay. Listen to me. We're gonna be okay." Natasha starts to say, her leg trapped under rubble as she talks, the strain in her face apparent.

"Right? I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never-" but she's cut off by a growling voice that demands,

"Your life?!" and here all hell truly breaks loose for Bruce stands up, his body expanding and growing and turning green. Quickly removing my hand from his arm, I force myself into a standing position and race over to Natasha asking her,

"You ok?" but she just shrugs me off saying,

"Get out of here Sara!" I've never heard her call me my name; she always uses some bitchy remark instead so I know she means it this time. Looking over at Bruce who is no longer Bruce, I turn and flee just as a great terrifying roar echoes throughout the Hellicarier. When I turn around I see Natasha running after me, or more like hobbling after me with gun drawn.

"Run!" she screams as the Hulk comes charging after her and just then another explosion rocks the ship forcing the lights to go out. As I run I feel a hand grab me and pull me downwards, another hand placing itself over my mouth. I freak out, but turn to see it's only Natasha whose dragged me to safety.

"Thanks." I say when she removes her hand, it going back to her hurt leg.

"I own you." I try again trying to get something out of her but she just nods as she looks around for the monster known as Hulk. I turn too but hit something causing him to turn his massive green head to look at us, his legs charging at us just as something red comes flying before him taking him out through a fricking wall. When me and Natasha look through the giant gaping hole we see Thor and Hulk in the docking area for the jets, the men in a circle around them. Thor is the first to get up saying as he does,

"We're not your enemies, Banner! Try to think!" but the Hulk just side swipes him across the docking bay. We both cringe as he falls into the wall and look to one another as if asking each other what to do. We both nod and come to the same conclusion, RUN! As we run for it we feel the ship listing dangerously and I can faintly hear from Natasha's earpiece,

"It's Barton, he took our systems. He's headed for the detention lab. Does anybody copy?" looking at Natasha I see her face contorted with emotion as she says back into the earpiece,

"This is Agent Romanov, I copy." then she looks to me and says,

"Go, leave now and don't get killed." smirking at her, I say in responds,

"That's going to be pretty hard girlfriend." which gets a God honest smile out of her. As she heads off in one direction I head off in the opposite, running on pure adrenaline now. I can feel my body heating up, my palms pulsing with the flames and look down to see them indeed on fire. When I look back up I see someone with a SHIELD suit on coming towards me, his gun aimed to fire.

"Hey, it's just-" but I don't finish because the bastard actually shoots at me. Luckily I block the bullets with a blast of fire and send one bolt of black flame at him, catching his leg on fire. As he tries to put it out I run up a flight of stairs trying to get away as the flames begin to burn my eyes. I run and run and run until I spy an open door, and unthinkingly dart through it only to see it's the room Loki was detained in, with Loki standing outside the cage.

"You're going to lose." I hear the voice of Coulson say to the crazed man who just laughs.

"Am I?" he asks the man whose standing holding a massive metal gun. As I look about I realize that the 'cage' is no longer there and the floor is closed meaning that Loki got out and sent the thing flying down onto some unknown location. Looking back at the two I hear Loki saying,

"Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"

"You lack conviction." Coulson replies, his voice faint and airy. Loki laughs again, a sick dark laugh before responding,

"I don't think I..." but just then the gun is fired sending a blast at Loki who in turn blasts Coulson with his scepter before getting thrown through a wall.

"So that's what it does." Coulson says faintly before slumping over onto the ground. With mad man Loki gone, I run over to Coulson and extinguish my flames to try and help him, applying pressure to his wound. As I hold his wound I hear familiar boots coming towards me and a voice saying,

"What happened?" it's the Director, who kneels down next to me to take Coulson out of my hands and into his, his hands going where mine had been before.

"I'm sorry, boss. The god rabbited." Coulson says his voice sounding strained as he talks.

"Just stay awake. Eyes on me." Fury responds but Coulson shakes his head and breaths out,

"Oh, I'm clockin' out here."

"Not an option." I say causing Fury to glance over at me briefly before looking back down at the dying man in his arms.

"It's okay, boss. This was never gonna work- if they didn't have something- to-" and there he stops breathing, his chest giving one last try before giving up. As Fury stands and lets the medical team through he comes over to me with his bloody hands. I sniffle and feel something wet trailing down my face, and raising one bloody hand to my face realize their tears.

"You ok kid?" I hear Fury ask but I can't respond, my eyes are locked onto the fallen man before me, lying in a pool of his own blood.

"He can't be dead." I mutter out, my breathing hard and labored.

"Agent Coulson is down." Fury says into his earpiece getting a responds from someone but he quickly answers back,

"They're here. They called it." and then he turns to me again, his one eye filled with emotion. Coming to stand in front of me, blocking my view of the men taking Coulson's body away he takes my shoulders and says,

"It's ok kid." but I shake my head, hair all over the place and say,

"No, no it isn't. He's dead, Bruce has gone nuts, Loki's MIA and the place nearly got blown up, and not by me." here he forces a smile and turns me around saying as he does,

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." and looking down I see that I'm covered, covered in blood. Fury leads me to a Woman's Changing Room and tell me to take whatever uniform that fits me before meeting back in the bridge. I can only nod silently as I follow his orders, getting the uniform and changing out of my bloody cloths, throwing them in the trash. When I'm in the SHIELD uniform I look at myself in the mirror. Light bags are under my eyes, my hair is a mess and my face red and splotchy from crying. Turning on the sink, I splash water onto my heated face before slamming my fists down on the counter. Sniffling back more tears, I look up and say aloud,

"He didn't die in vain." before leaving the changing room and heading to the bridge. When I get there I see Tony, Steve and Fury standing round the table, none of them notice me as I come in.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them." Fury says throwing something onto the table towards Steve and I realize there Captain America trading cards. Steve looks utterly hurt at this as Fury begins a speech,

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming. Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes." and as he speaks I realize he's using some of my own words. As he steps over towards me and the door he stops before turning around to say just as Tony walks out,

"Well, it's an old fashioned notion."


	7. Chapter Six

**So it's a new month which I thought I should celebrate with a new chapter! Miko Hayashi asked for some fluff between Sara/Bruce and I will deliver, but it will be a few chapters later on. From what I got out of Bruce's character is that he's shy as all belief and would take a while before he lets on to his feelings, plus there's so little room for fluff if I follow the actually script! It will come Miko, the fluff WILL come I promise!**

Chapter Six~

As Tony leaves, Steve stands and follows him and not knowing what to do, do the same. When we finally find him he's brooding alone somewhere in the Hellicarier.

"Was he married?" Steve asks Tony who looks up to see us. When he sees me he chuckles and manages out,

"Nice outfit." causing Steve to look at me and realize I'm in a uniform. I smile and say softly,

"No. There was a uh- cellist, I think." Steve nods his head before turning back to Tony who's not looking at us at all.

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man." Steve says but Tony laughs and says in a growl,

"He was an idiot."

"Why? For believing?" I ask him making him look up at me. As he does I say,

"I was there, he died believing."

"He shouldn't have taken on Loki alone." Tony replies glaring at me as if I'm the bad guy in the room. Steve notices this and says to my defense,

"He was doing his job."

"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have-" Tony tries to say but I know he can't finish his thought, it's too damn painful. Walking over to him, I place a hand on his shoulder and give a small squeeze making him look up at me just as Steve says,

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony."

"Right. How did that work for him?" Tony demands letting my hand stay on his shoulder as he yells at the blond.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve asks but that really ticks him off for he pushes my hand away and screams,

"We are not soldiers! I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does, but right now we gotta put that behind us and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list-" Steve says but he's cut right off by Tony who says forcefully,

"He made it personal."

"That's not the point." I try but he whips around to see me saying,

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart." Steve says simply and as Tony nods he says,

"Yeah, divide and conquer, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."

"Right. I caught his act in Stuttgart." Steve says crossing his arms over his chest as I try and figure out where Tony's going with this. As I stand there thinking Tony says,

"Yeah. That's just previews, this is- this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tail diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered-" and here he stops as both of us come to the same conclusion,

"Son of a bitch!" he cries as he runs out of the area leaving me and Steve to try and catch up. As we do Tony explains his plan as Rogers goes off to grab Natasha and the hopefully recovered Barton. As me and Tony run to where his suit is he looks at me and says,

"You don't have to do this."

"No, I do. As you said, he made it personal." I reply as we take a moment to breath. Tony looks at me hard before asking,

"How old are you?"

"Twenty five, why?" I reply as he shakes his head and putting both hands on my shoulders says softly,

"You don't have to do this." but I merely smile and say,

"Yeah I do." he smirks before leaning in and giving me a kiss on the cheek and as he pulls back runs off saying,

"For good luck darling!" as I laugh, I turn around to find Steve, Natasha and Barton. When at last I find them there walking through the jet hanger; Steve in uniform, Natasha with a load of guns and Clint with his bow and arrow set.

"Hey guys don't leave without me!" I cry running up behind them causing them to turn around.

"Sara, you don't-" tries Steve but I stop him with a laugh and say,

"Already went through this with Tony, and YES I am coming!" this gets a smirk on all their faces and they turn round heading for a jet. One pilot tries to stop us but Steve just tells the man,

"Son, just don't." and as we get into the jet, Natasha and Clint take the pilot seats while me and Steve take the back. Soon where flying out of the Hellicarier most likely being watched by Fury as we leave. Halfway through the air Natasha looks over saying,

"You ready to fight?" laughing at this, and really honestly laughing I say,

"I was born ready girlfriend." at that Clint throws me something and I catch it realizing it's a communicator.

"You're going to need one then." he says smiling at me before returning to flying the jet. Before long were flying over New York City, my home town, and I call out into my headset which I placed into my ear,

"Stark were here!"

"What did you stop for drive thru? Swing up to the side of the tower. Loki and Thor are there!" Tony calls back through the headset as we fly over the buildings. Looking out through the windshield I see a giant blue portal in the air and flying _THINGS_ coming out of it. A few spy us and head over to attack and I can only guess their part of Loki's army. As Natasha and Clint steer the jet away from the attackers we head towards Stark Towers to try and shake them but a tiny figure of a man in some crazy wacked out outfit fires a blast at us, hitting the right wing and forcing us to go down. I can only guess it's that bastard Loki who shot us. As we spiral out of the air, Natasha and Clint try to steer it away from crashing into buildings or anything at all really. As the plane neared the ground one of them calls out,

"Hold on! It's going to be a bumpy ride!" and to their words we crash land into the street, flying over cars before slamming into the side of a building. When were at a complete stop we all get out, ready for the fight. As we made it out of the plane we look around at the pure chaos that's around us. Cars are flipped over, buildings have dents in them and people are fleeing like chickens with their heads cut off. Fires are everywhere and the smell is horrid forcing me to bring one hand to my nose to try and block it out.

"Stark you seeing this?!" Steve yells into the communicator looking around at the once peaceful New York.

"Seeing…still working on believing. Where's Banner, has he shown up yet?" Tony asks into his headset and I wonder what he means before Steve says,

"Banner?"

"Just keep me posted!" Tony calls as he is apparently a little busy at the moment. We all duck as an explosion rocks above our heads and get ready for the oncoming tidal wave of Chitauri. As the bullets and arrows began to fly, I let myself get white hot and begin blasting the freaks with flames. As I turn round and blast I don't see one coming at me and are about to get blown to smithereens when the Captain jumps in front of me, blocking the blast from the guys gun. Turning round, I see him and thank him to get a smile out of the man. As I continue to blast I spy Natasha and Clint over by a turned over bus and run blasting as I go towards them. When I get there we huddle as one says,

"We've got civilians trapped over there." and looking round I see into a building where a group of Chitauri have cornered a bunch of people in what looks like a bank. As the Captain comes running over towards us I fire out blasts at the oncoming Chitauri, covering for him. When he gets to us Natasha says,

"Go, we got this." to Steve who merely looks at me before asking,

"Do you think you can hold them off?" this gets Clint's attention and as he fires an exploding round towards the still coming aliens he says,

"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure." and as Captain again looks to me as I pat his shoulder saying,

"Go! I'll cover you!" and now he nods and runs out into the melee as I blast out several of the Chitauri that try to go after him.

"This is just like Budapest all over again." I hear Natasha say as she fires at the Chitauri gaining ground on us.

"You and I remember Budapest very differently." I hear Clint's reply and groaning yell at them,

"Can it with the lovey dovey shit guys!" both look at me and merely nod before returning fire some more. As we fight I spy the Captain trying to give orders to some stunned police men who are about to protest when three Chitauri attack Steve who simply fights them off as if they were play toys. As the police men watch on I smirk as their faces grow with wonder at the Super Solider Popsicle.

"I need men in those buildings!" one of the police men say and I smirk saying proudly,

"Way to go Cap!" as the police begin to follow his orders, realizing that he's on their side. As the Captain runs back over to help me, Natasha and Clint, who are almost outnumbered, I force out,

"Where the hell are they coming from?!" only to remember the giant portal in the sky. Just then a bolt of lightning crashes over our heads as the Cap joins our fight and I look up in time to see Thor flying, yes, flying through the air towards the four of us. As he lands he looks at me and asks,

"Lady Sara, you are fighting?"

"Uh, duh." I reply getting a chuckle out of the man in the Superman cape.

"Besides, I owe you for saving my life with Banner." I say as I blast away one Chitauri who somehow managed to get right up in personally with me. As Thor watches me blast them he laughs and says,

"There is nothing to owe me for."

"What's the story upstairs?" the Captain asks into his headset to I'm guessing is Tony but Thor replies,

"The cube is impenetrable." before cock blocking one alien who tried to sneak up behind him, sending the offending Chitauri flying across the street. As we all huddle during a moment of peace Tasha asks,

"How do we do this?"

"As a team." the Captain responds simply as Thor growls out,

"I have unfinished business with Loki."

"Oh yea? Get in line." Clint says as he eyed the God evilly and I can only think of the twisted ways he has planned in his head to get back at the mind thief.

"Save it!" Steve says looking towards the sky and as he looks back to us he says,

"Loki wants to keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need, so that these aliens don't go running around wild. We got Stark up top and-" but he's cut off by the sound of a really lame motorcycle coming towards us and turning round we all see Bruce on a rusted piece of junk in tattered clothing, stopping just before us before getting off and casually strolling over to us. He looks feeble and weak, but I knew first hand that that was NOT the case whatsoever.

"So…..this all seems… horrible…" he says looking around at the war zone around us.

"I've seen worse…" Tasha says causing him to glance over at her before at me, muttering as he does,

"Sorry."

"No. We could use… a little worse." Tasha says as Bruce locks eyes on me. Yes I'm on fire, yes the fire is black and yes I might look like some crazy super freak but he looks at me with only care in his eyes, seeing past the flames down into me. I smile at him as I realize he really does like me as the Captain says into his earpiece,

"Stark, we got him." in my own earpiece I hear Tony laugh before saying,

"Who? Banner?"

"Just as you said." Steve replies looking at the man whose eyes still haven't left mine.

"Well tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you!" and right then a monstrous roar causes us to turn around to see a giant flying…..slug? coming at us. I gap in disbelief as Tasha says,

"I-I don't see how that's a party…?"


	8. Chapter Seven

**New chapter means NEW DRAMA! WHOOHOO! So, the fight has just begun and the Avengers are in the thick of it. How will Sara cope with the fight? Read and find out yourselves! I'm not going to spoil it!**

Chapter Seven~

As the flying slug comes closer towards us, Bruce begins to walk slowly from his awe-struck position towards the alien as it inched closer and closer to our position.

"Doctor Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry." Captain says as Bruce continues to walk towards the beast. I shake my head in worry but as Bruce turns around he fixes his eyes on me saying,

"That's my secret, Captain…I'm always angry." and as soon as that has left his mouth he begins to transform again into the Hulk right before our eyes. Despite the fact I'm on fire, my gaze is locked on the beast as it leaps into the air and grabs onto the flying slug. Raising a hand into the air and then crashing it down on the leviathan alien's head, the Hulk contained and stopped the monster from floating near the gang. In one word, it was amazing. But the party is just starting as a screech comes from the Chitauri who have all the while moved closer to us. As I look around, Clint retrieved an arrow in his hands readying it for action, Thor grips and twirled his hammer prepared to swing, Tasha has reloaded a round of bullets into her hand gun, Captain America maintained the hold of his shield on his right arm while Iron Man floated down from his position in the air in between me and the Hulk who appears out of nowhere. I look up at the Hulk just as he looks down at me, his eyes not the same warm cinnamon I remember but instead a frightening blue but I know better. As I return my gaze to look out into the flames and destruction that once used to be called New York City, I feel overwhelmed by the group that had included me. Somehow I couldn't shake the feeling that I probably wasn't supposed to be here, or look as super as I do. After all, I'm the one on fire here. Glaring around at the enemy, I growl out,

"Bring it!" just as a thought pops into my head, I'm officially an Avenger now. For several grueling hours we fight off the invading Chitauri who never seem to stop coming. After a while I feel myself getting weak, my breathing heavy. I've never been ablaze for so long, and it's starting to take a toll on me. The other must have noticed this for they begin to form ranks around me as I try my hardest to continue to breathe normally. Tasha looks over to me and calls out,

"You ok girlfriend?" but I can't answer her because I can barely breathe right. I watch slowly as the flames, once brilliant and deadly around me, begin to fade and know I'm in a load of trouble when they go out. I won't be able to help out anymore, and I'm a liability. Glancing over a Thor who's closest to me I call out,

"Get me up on the Tower!" Thor nods and rushes over to me, his hammer twirling round in his hand gaining momentum and just as he reaches me wraps one arm around my waist and flies once more up into the air.

"Got a plan?" he calls over the screaming air around us.

"Yeah," I call out in reply.

"Stop Loki." I hear the Thunder God's laugh as he continues to fly over the once normal streets of NYC closer towards the tower where the portal device sits, and along with it Loki. We land on the platform where the portal device is, along with Eric Selvig who looks like a train wreck, more so than Bruce. Putting me back down on my feet, Thor lets go just as I say,

"Try to see if you can stop them with the fancy light works!" as he nods the Thunder God takes off back into the air leaving me with the good doctor. By now my heart rate has calmed down, I don't know why considering I had been flying a few brief minutes ago, and my flames are back in full force as I scream at the doctor,

"Dr. Selvig!" slowly I walk towards him, his eyes not on me and making it a lot easier for me to sneak up on him.

"Selvig…please… don't want to fight you, but I will if I have to." here the doctor looks up at me, notices I'm a threat and picks up a wrench telling me he won't be stopped.

"Oh yes you will." I say blasting him with the smallest blast I can manage in the head, intending to knock him to the ground and hopefully free of the mind control. As he falls I let the flames die down a bit in order to see, he's fallen and rolling around but thankfully nowhere near the edge of the ledge. When he finally gets back up he asks,

"Wh—who are you?"

"Nightshade." I respond before asking him,

"How do we stop it?!" he looks baffled for a moment before his mind remembers what's happened and he looks at the glowing pulsing machine before something stops him, something behind me. Before I even get the chance to look I'm thrown like a rag doll away from the doctor and down several flights onto the patio of Tony's apartment building. I land way too hard and hear the sound of my bones smacking together as I try to sit up in order to see my attacker.

"The flying flame," my attacker says standing over me and kicking me in the side.

"Deadly Nightshade." he laughs before kicking me again only this time through the glass wall of Tony's apartment. Glass cuts through my uniform as I'm sent on my side flying through the glass before hitting the farthest wall away from Loki. As I fly through the glass I let loose a scream fit for a horror movie, and can swear everyone in the world can hear me. Falling hard at last to the ground, I force my head up to see Loki coming over towards me. His walk is the slowest walk ever, and I'm left there and watch him walk over towards me. I try and sit up, but my body will not cooperate with me as I'm forced to watch him stroll into the room, with his scepter in his hand.

"You tried so very hard," he begins coming ever closer to me.

"So very hard to fail. How does it feel? To know you're about to die? How does it feel to know you'll be alone as you do?" as he talks he sway's his head from side to side like a snake before stopping right before me.

"At least-" I start to say before I taste blood.

"At least, I'll be Avenged!" I scream just as he grabs my shoulder and forces me upright staring me right in the eye.

"No dear one, you'll be forgotten!" and taking his scepter blasts me right in the stomach with so much force I can literally feel my organs and flesh being ripped apart. As I scream in agony I can hear the others on the communicator all talking at the same time, but each are saying the same thing, my name. When the blast has died down, Loki lets me fall into a heap on the floor.

"Goodbye, little one." he says before dissolving right in front of my eyes. With my back to the ground, I can feel the blood pooling out of my body and onto the ground as I try to focus on something, anything but the pain. Oh God the pain! It's like nothing anyone can describe, it's indescribable. In my ear I hear voices saying,

"Sara! What's going on?"

"Darling, what happened?"

"Sara? What's your position? Do you need help?"

"SARA!" but I can't respond, I know I'm not getting any oxygen into my lungs as I start to fade out. I demand my eyes to stay open but can't help them fall close so that darkness envelops me. As I shudder to breath, I hear everyone talking at once to me, though I'm not sure if that's what's really happening.

"What about Sara?" I hear one of the voices ask.

"I'm not sure…" another responds.

"I'll go. It's my building anyways." Tony says hotly.

"No. Wait!" someone else cries.

"What is it, Hawkeye?" Steve asks.

"I see the Hulk leaping on the side!" and sure enough I can feel the building rumble under the weight of the green machine Jolly Green giant. Soon I hear giant footsteps as he comes over towards me, his breathing labored like mine from climbing.

"Sara?" he asks as a large warm hand lifts me up as gently as he could. As my eyes fight to open they're blurry with tears as I chock out,

"Hey Bruce." I can faintly make out a smile on his face as he says softly,

"Sara hurt?" nodding I cough up the metallic taste of blood before saying,

"No….duh." and just as I say that the elevator dings signaling the arrival of the gang. As their footsteps echo in my mind I hear them all talking at once,

"Sara!? You ok darling?!"

"Hey, Hulk, we gotta get her to a hospital!"

"Hulk! Let go! We gotta move her!"

"Hulk! Put her down! Please!" as they all talk I push out of the Hulks embrace and force myself upright with some strange resolve and force out,

"No," causing everyone to stare at me, including the Hulk, those amazingly warm eyes fixed on my bloody form.

"Let's-get-the bastard!" I scream causing the others to cheer. With the help of both Hulk and Tony I'm moved over to the passed out but now waking Loki which made me wondered what had happened when I was out. When he notices me and the others he laughs lightly before saying,

"I'll have that drink now, if it's all the same to you." and at that moment the elevator dings again and several SHIELD agents in battle gear with guns come in to surround Loki in order to take him away. As they do I lean heavily on Tony and manage to say,

"Hey-guys," and noticing my need Tony lifts me into the air and into his arms.

"Guys, we could use some help here!" Tony calls out just as I pass out, again.


	9. Chapter Eight

**So yes, it's getting near the ending dear readers. I am so amazed at the reviews I have gotten for this story, let me tell you, writing along with the script and adding to fit my character in was NOT the easiest thing in the world to do! So, with a bow, I give you the next installment!**

Chapter Eight~

Next time I wake up, I'm in a small pure white room with someone's shadow leaning over me. Though I cannot see who it is, I have a guess who it might be.

"Hey Bruce." I breathe out lightly causing the head of the person to lift and indeed find that it's Bruce, his hand reaching out to take mine that lies limp on the bed.

"My God, I thought-" he tries but is unable to finish, and I can understand why. His eyes are full of tears and as one trail down his face my hand holding his gives a squeeze. With as much care as he can, seeing as if he IS the Hulk after all, Bruce leans over and brushes his lips against my forehead. As a few more tears fall and he pulls back, I can hear a door opening and look right in front of me to see Tony, Tasha, Clint, Thor, and Steve walk into the room. As soon as they all see me their faces instantly brighten and they all begin talking at the same time, which causes a headache to start to form. Giving a squeeze again to Bruce's hand he stands and says a bit too loudly,

"Guys! She needs to rest!" but the others just get even louder in their complaints.

"GUYS! SHUT THE HELL UP!" I scream sitting upright from my bed and feeling that familiar tingle of fire on my body. As they all quite down, Bruce stutters out,

"W—well, I told you." his stutter causes me to laugh, actually laugh which breaks the tension and gets everyone laughing. As the laughter slowly dies down its Tony who comes over first saying as he did,

"We thought we lost you darling." swallowing on a few words, I smile gently at him before saying,

"You're not the only one who thought that." As Tasha comes over next to my right side she says,

"Did you see any tunnels of white?" chuckling, I shake my head and look down at my stomach where the scepter had blasted me. All I can see is a blanket, but I can feel the stiches in my skin as I look down, the muscle protesting as I move.

"No, but I did hear a voice." I say as I lean back down to lie on the bed. It's Steve who comes next to Tasha asking,

"Who was it?" as I look around the group, those I can call friends for the first time in my whole life, I let my eyes linger on Bruce before looking back down saying,

"Don't remember." as everyone laughs I realize I don't here Bruce laughing and stealing a glance at him to see his eyes wide with understanding, and amazement. Feeling a smile tugging at my lips, I look over at Tasha and taking her hand says,

"And I thought you hated me." shaking her red hair which, despite going through hell, still looks perfect, which makes me envious but only a little.

"Not anymore girlfriend, I understand you now. You started wanting to get the Red out, but ended up saving the world." as I laugh nervously I manage to say,

"Not really, you guys did a lot too."

"But not without you." Tony says smirking before saying,

"And you owe me a new floor." at that everyone rolls their eyes just as the door opens again and Director Fury walks into the room. His face is a mask of indifference and I briefly wonder if I'm back in my apartment in the Broadway district. As everyone shuts up, the Director looks right at me saying,

"That Red in your file?" nodding timidly, I watch as a smile crosses his face, a rare, almost never seen God honest smile.

"Consider it gone." everyone bursts into cheers and Tony even hugs me despite the fact that I have stitches in my gut.

"Ow." I murmur out as he pulls back saying quickly,

"Sorry!" I just roll my eyes before turning to the Director to ask,

"What about Loki?"

"He will face Asgardian Justice, the punishment will be final with no other say in the matter. For his crimes here and on Asgard, and the fact he killed so many innocents. And also hurting one of my friends." Thor says and at the end he smiles the most heartwarming smile anyone can receive. Returning the smile I ask,

"But what about-" but is cut off by the Director saying,

"The Tesseract will go with them too." sighing deeply, I lean back again and close my eyes saying,

"Thank goodness." as everyone begins to talk again I drift in and out of sleep, briefly hearing snippets and short comments of the conversation. A few times my eyes look around the room and I can't believe I'm still here, still alive. Never, ever in my whole life would I imagine falling back into the world of SHIELD after so many years only to nearly die because of it. But I wouldn't change it for the world, I would do it all again even with the fear in my heart. But now that's gone, replaced with the knowledge that I have some lifelong friends now.

"Sara?" a voice cuts through my thoughts as I look over to find Bruce next to me on the left. Again he's holding my hand as he asks,

"Want us to leave?" I shake my head as hard as I can and say,

"No way in hell! You guys aren't going anywhere!" and everyone laughs but I break through the laughter saying,

"At first all I wanted was to somehow get out the Red in my file. At first, all I cared about was leaving as soon as possible. That changed though, after meeting all of you. You guys fought like bitches in the beginning, but now are the best team out there. You guys tore each other to pieces, but put them back together to save Manhattan. If I didn't believe, I wouldn't be here right now. And I know that, and you should know that too." when I've finished I'm in tears, clutching onto Bruce's hand as if it's the only link in the world. And maybe, it really is. To my surprise it's Tony who whips away a tear saying,

"Hey, don't cry darling. You're here, not there." I know what he means as he says it and smile before giving HIM the hug. As he chuckles I smile into his shirt muttering out,

"Thanks Tony." as he pat's me on the back he says,

"Yeah, uh, I'm not used to being hugged by a hero." pulling back away from him, I see him take out a cell phone and pressing play on the screen. On the screen, I can see all of us, the Avengers fighting off the alien army. A few clips go by before landing on a few of the survivors.

"It was way cool bro!" one male teen says looking right at the camera.

"Some chick on black fire, I mean BLACK FIRE came out of nowhere and blasted those freaks away!" then the camera cuts to a little girl, no older than six whose holding onto a partly singed teddy bear.

"She was so cool! She didn't mean to hit my teddy but she did, but now, I'm glad she did! I get to keep something that was touched by a super hero!" then the camera cuts to a woman, a woman who looks almost like my mother. She's smiling into the camera holding onto a baby in a blanket as she says,

"She saved my life, without a second thought. And because of her, I get to stay for my baby girl." at the end of that, Tony turns off the phone and I feel my face wet with tears despite the fact I have a smile on my face.

"Way to go Super Hero." Tony mutters putting his phone away and patting me on the shoulder. Smiling back more tears, I look around the room before asking,

"Can I sleep now?"


	10. Chapter Nine

**Closer and closer to the end I be getting! Please remember to leave a review if you like, share and favorite it would really help me out! *bro fist* BYE!**

Chapter Nine~

After a few weeks of recovery in the SHILD hospital with my wounds, and various surprised visits from the gang, we all are now standing in a secluded part of Central Park after having a meal of Shwarma. Loki is in chains, a muzzle around his mouth so he can't worm his way out of the chains. Thor is holding onto his chains with one massive hand, the other hand holding the Tesseract. As everyone gathers around Thor and Loki I give Loki my most deadly glare I can. His face remains placid as Thor says we'll meet again before they both grab onto the Tesseract, turning the handles before being engulfed in a blue glow. As I watch it I wrap and arm around Bruce's arm whispering out,

"Hope I never see him again." and to my utter surprise I feel a kiss placed atop my head as Bruce whispers back,

"I know, me too." as a blush settled over my cheeks, Tony turns around to say,

"Well, nice playing with you kiddies but I've got to get back to work." and seeing me wrapped around Bruce smirks before saying,

"Want to join the excitement darling?" looking up at Bruce whose only smiling brightly, I say,

"Well, why the hell not." and we begin to disperse, Clint and Tasha going one way; me, Bruce and Tony going another and Steve yet another. As we walk over towards a car I say to Bruce,

"So, you like me huh?" I can almost feel the blush on his face as he stumbles over his words,

"Uh—well—I mean—" but Tony shuts him up saying,

"Wrong car love birds!" and turning to look at him, we see him standing by a very nice car, with only two seats.

"Tony?" I ask as we slowly head over to the car.

"Yes darling?" he asks seemingly innocent but with that cheeky little grin on his face.

"Where am I going to sit?" I ask slapping him as hard as I can with my hand. As he flitches I let one hand slowly glow with black fire before asking,

"Where Iron Boy?"

"How about on Banners lap? Doubt he'll mind." and at that Tony wink's over at Bruce before getting into the driver seat. Groaning, I look up at Bruce who is beet red I mean, BEET RED! Timidly his eyes look down at me as I smile helplessly saying,

"I'll just get a taxi." and standing on my tippy toes give Bruce's cheek a kiss before unwinding my arm from his and stepping away.

"Be careful Super Hero!" Tony calls waving one hand to me as Bruce gets into the car. I give a wave as the two drive off onto the street before turning around and looking for a taxi. It's then I realize I have no cash, and curse as loud as I can. When at last I make it back to my apartment I find that it's one hundred percent empty of all my things, furniture and cloths. What the hell man? As I look around I notice a red headed woman coming out of the bedroom wearing a checkered dress.

"Oh!" she says spotting me.

"You must be Sara, I've heard so much about you from Tony." she offers with a warm smile before putting her hand out for me to take. Though I take it, I'm a little weary of her and she apparently sees that for she says,

"I'm Pepper, Pepper Potts." the name rings a bell, so THIS is Tony's girlfriend. As I smile and she returns it before saying,

"Tony wanted you to come live in his Tower, along with the other Avengers. Like a Head Quarters for you guys."

"Without my permission he moves ALL of my stuff?" I ask getting a sheepish look from her. As she pushes back some of her hair she says,

"Well, I told him not to, but he almost never listens to me!" I have to smile at her as her face twists in frustration, and I can only imagine what it's like to live with him. The thought isn't too pleasant to be perfectly honest. When she calms down a bit she smiles warmly again before saying,

"So, ready to live with a group of Super Heroes?" all I can do is nod and follow her out of my old apartment, which I find has been already sold to someone. As we leave I say goodbye to my now old landlord who winks before saying,

"Way to go kid." I wink back as Pepper leads me to a stretch black limo. As we both get in a British voice greets us saying,

"Welcome to Stark Industries Ms. Williams." knowing that this must be JARVIS, I respond saying,

"Nice to meet you AI." the voice sound cheeky as it says in return,

"Nice to meet you too, Homo-Saipan." and at that the driver heads off into the traffic. As we ride, Pepper offers me something to drink, which could be anything I wanted. Declining the offer, I watch the city go by as it continues to heal over the devastation that was Loki. Buildings are slowly getting back together, the destruction being cleared away. It's a short while before were in front of the seemingly attacked building with only an A left where Tony's last name had been. When I step out of the limo Tony's there to greet us, along with Bruce. Tony being Tony comes over and pats me on the shoulder saying,

"Welcome to the family Sara." for once I'm at a loss of words, and it must have read on my face for Pepper goes over to Tony and says to my salvation,

"Come on, inside Mister." and as the two head off into the lobby, Bruce hangs around near the stairs leading into the lobby. As I come over to him I see that his hands are in his pockets, tail tucked between his legs.

"So-Tony's moving everyone into the Tower, top ten floors all to ourselves." he says not looking up at me but instead on the ground. Feeling a lopsided smile on my face, I take my hand and raise it so that it's under his chin before saying,

"Come on, let's head inside." and giving him a smile, cup his cheek briefly before walking around him and into the lobby of the famous Stark Towers. When I hear footfalls behind me I know Bruce has shaken out of his amazed stupor to follow me inside, and I have to smile. As I head inside I see tons and tons of people milling around and feel, well, daunted. I fought off aliens, fought off a crazed wanna be God who wanted to rule Earth, and nearly died but this, THIS scared me. From behind me someone wraps an arm around my shoulders and I turn to see Bruce smiling down at me.

"Come on." he says warmly before leading me through the masses and towards a set of elevators. Once inside one of the several elevators, Bruce takes out a keycard and swipes it through a box near the number of buttons. Quirking an eyebrow, he turns and says,

"You'll get one too." before the doors closed on us, the elevator taking off up to the top ten stories of Stark Towers. As we ride, I feel sheepish, after all; I'm in borrowed clothing from SHIELD and still have healing stitches in my gut. The thought of living inside Stark Towers, to be living with a group who saved the world well, it's a lot to process. My face must have looked like a frighten child for Bruce says,

"It'll be fine."

"I know, but-" and here I stop to look at him, needing to tell him something.

"I've lived on my own for as long as I can remember. After the accident and me blowing up half of Massachusetts I wanted to be alone as much as humanly possible. I didn't want to hurt anyone with my 'power' so I hid from the world until I could control it. Now though, I'm in league with Super Hero's and brushed with Death and for once in my life, I feel real fear again." swallowing back a tidal wave of emotion, I turn away from him and look down at the floor. From the corner of my eye I spy a set of black dress shoes come into my line of vision.

"You don't have to be afraid." Bruce says to me, his slightly shaking hand raising my chin up just as I had done not too long ago. As I stare up into his cinnamon eyes, he smiles briefly before saying,

"Never, have I seen eyes so beautiful as yours." chocking on tears, I smile and are about to thank him but decided to just lean in further, standing on my tippy toes to brush my lips against his. Just as soon as it happened, it ended way too quickly as a soft 'DING!' echoed throughout the small elevator. Just as the doors opened Bruce stepped back quickly as if ashamed that I had done that. He nearly jumped up towards the ceiling when we both heard a voice calling out to us,

"About time you two!" it was Tony; standing by the lobby of the elevator which I noticed was the only one in said lobby. As I stepped out of it, it takes Bruce a while before he followed behind me. As soon as I was out of the elevator Tony gave me a hug saying as he did,

"Welcome kiddo!" I thought I heard a growl come from behind me, but then again I could have imagine it. As Tony let me go he patted me on the shoulder just as the other Avengers came over to see me. I got a hug from Tasha and a handshake from both Clint and Steve. So they were already here huh? Nice. After stepping back from the gang I smile and took a moment to look around to realize I was back in Tony's private apartment.

"Uh, guys?" I asked feeling overwhelmed as memories flashed through my mind. Loki kicking me through the glass which had been replaced, me pounding into the wall which was refurbished, my blood pooling onto the carpet which had been removed and a new carpet put in and my near dying. I could feel my face go pale as I recalled every moment, every horrific moment. A hand reached out to touch me but I shrank back thinking whoever it was might hurt me. When my head whips around to see who it had been I find that it had been Bruce, his face hurt that I had moved away from him. Already feeling horrid, now that I had hurt Bruce's feelings I felt even worse.

"You ok darling?" asked Tony coming over to me looking worried. Swallowing back my terror I forced a smile and said,

"Just, remembering the last time I was here." this made everyone understand and they all looked worried then, as if I might collapse at any moment. And maybe I might have if I hadn't sunk into a chair near me. As I did it was, of course, Tony who said,

"Alright! Anyone hungry?"


	11. Chapter Ten

**So this chapter gets a little bit heavy in the drama section, mentions of Sara's past come into play and kinda mess with her. Also someone in the reviews said that they thought they had read this before; yes I took actually dialogue from the movie that's why there are spoilers for it but everything else I MADE UP! If you have a problem, message me but don't complain that it's been stolen from the movie or for that matter another writer on here, thanks for the understanding and here goes the chapter!**

Chapter Ten~

Night had fallen over the city, an electric glow of neon lights brightening up the black sky. It had taken a while before I settled into my room, which was twice the size of my old bedroom. Some of the un-needed furniture was sold off though most of it stayed. That should tell you the size of my new bedroom. Tony had wanted to go out to dinner, to celebrate all of us under one roof but we all passed opting to eat in instead which worked out fine. As we all headed to our own rooms afterwards Pepper came up to me asking what I wanted to do with my bedroom. I wondered what she meant but then she asked me about painting or things like that. I shrugged her off saying I was fine with white walls but she all but insisted that I paint the damned walls.

"Fine, then I guess a light blue?" I asked and when she agreed, she headed off I sighed before heading to my bedroom, shutting the door behind me as I went. Out of habit, and the fact I was under the same roof as Tony Stark, I looked almost everywhere for a camera that might be peeping in on me. When I found none, that I could see or find, I changed into my pajamas in my attached bathroom before getting into bed. But sleep wouldn't come to me for I kept seeing flashes of memories I thought long dead and forgotten. I tossed and turned, flipped and flopped before I groaned and got out of bed. Peeking my head out of the bedroom into the hallways I found almost all the lights off, only a few to lit my way as I headed for the kitchen intent on having some tea to soothe me. After stepping into the spacious kitchen and making the tea I headed for my room before stopping to look out the wall of windows at the skyline. With a shaky breath I headed for the sliding door and slowly slid it open to step out into the cool night air. They had fixed the patio, the damage completely gone as if it had never happened. With my warm cup in my hands I start walking to the ledge, flashes of my nightmare danced before my eyes, along with other memories that made my heart clench in sorrow.

_"Mama I want to play with Daddies toys!"_

_"You can't Sweetheart, there not toys but important work equipment."_

_"What's Daddy working on?"_

_"Something for our government, something important."_

_"What is it?"_

_"I'll tell you when you're older Sweetheart."_ the flashes of just before I had turned my world upside-down coming before the vision of four year old me opening the basement door, climbing down the stairs into the darkened basement. One tiny hands flicks on the light illuminating the equipment and making them gleam. With a growing horror, I watched younger me grab a stool and climb on it before starting to play. It's a little later that once again my vision is filled with an amazingly bright light, the sound of screams filling my ears. With my eyes fixed in front of me, I slowly let my cup drop to the ground, the sound of breaking china not even registering in my mind. Another vision swam before me, young me a day before the accident in the park on a swing, my mom pushing me from behind. As little me giggles I don't hear the robotic voice calling out my name, I can only hear little me laughing. With shaky breaths I watch as the scene changes to little me waking in a tiny room, a man in all black standing over me.

_"Sara Williams, my name is Director Fury. Do you remember what happened?"_

_"No mister. Where's my Momma?"_

_"She's not here."_

_"Where my Daddy then?"_

_"He's not here either."_ the colors of this vision blend until it changed to the day I blow up half of the state of Massachusetts. I had just graduated, still in my robes and hat when I start to feel funny. Not sick funny, but a type of strange that's hard to describe, even to this day. My eyes watch as an older me looks down to see black flames begin to engulf my body.

_"What the hell?!"_

_"Sara what's going on!?"_

_"Someone help her she's on fire!"_ and then a blast rocks the earth, the black flames exploding off my body and into the crowd of graduates, killing everyone in the flames path instantly. I watch in horror as the bodies' burn before my eyes, the screams echoing in my head. As the screams continue they block the voices from behind me, despite the fact they are very close to me. With tears in my eyes I watch as the teen me collapse and feel all the strength in my body leave me. With one breath I'm falling into a void of utter darkness but just before I fall I feel an arm wrap around my waist, something or someone pulling me back from the void.

"Let me go! Let me go!" I scream thrashing about in the arms holding me tightly, my legs trying to kick whoever is holding me. It feels as if I'm being dragged backwards as my breathing is labored and uneven. The arms around my waist doesn't let go though, instead it turns me around so that I'm facing something white. As soon as I see the white I panic, thrashing anew as if fighting for my life, and I am or at least, so I think. Once more the arms hold me, pulling me closer to the white just as a voice breaks through the screams,

"Sara! It's me! It's Bruce!" at the name everything clears; the screams, the smell of burning flesh, the white veil before my eyes. As everything clears I find myself staring up into the face of Bruce, his face filled with an unparalleled horror. Blinking a few times as tears begin to fall, I turn my head behind me to see the ledge only a few paces away from us. Sobbing slightly, I turn back to Bruce and manage to ask,

"What-" but he cuts me off by wrapping me in an embrace, my head going under his chin as he chokes out,

"You almost jumped." at first his words don't register in my brain, instead it's foggy with the scent of sandalwood and aftershave. As I focus on trying to regain my breathing the words begin to sink in. That's why I was so close to the ledge, that's why arms wrapped around me and pulled me back. They were saving my life, Bruce had just saved my life. A new wave of tears comes and I bury my head into his chest choking on my own sorrow and his. He's shaking as I hide my face in his chest, as if his body is fighting with itself over the fact I had nearly died, again. But this time it was different, this time it hadn't been because of some egotistical God, it had almost been my own fault. At this thought I begin to cry even harder, muttering out as I do,

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." over and over again. Bruce's head rests against mine, a kiss going to the top of my head before a cheek is pressed in the same spot.

"Why? Why would you want to jump?" he asks me his voice returning to normal slowly. Swallowing some of my tears, I simply close my eyes and say,

"I'm sorry." at this the cheek removes itself and the arms pull me back slightly, just enough that Bruce's eyes can see mine. His eyes search my own before securely wrapping an arm around my waist turning me to find all the others standing behind us. Each and every face holds the same amount of emotion as Bruce; eyes glazed with tears, a hard frown on their lips. Sheepishly I turn my head to bury it again into Bruce's body, this time his side as he leads me away. My feet blindly follow his lead as never once do I look up, I don't want to see the pain I just caused. I hear a door open and close as the arm around my waist gently pulls me backwards. Before Bruce can look into my eyes I turn my head away to find that were in my bedroom, the bed just before us.

"Sara," Bruce tires but I don't look at him, instead my eyes are fixed on the bed. Silently I beg him not to make me look at him, it will be my undoing I know it. Already I can hear the questions in his mind; why did you try to jump? What made you want to? Since I know I have no answers for him, I beg and beg that he doesn't make me look at him. But my begging wish isn't granted, and his hand comes to cup my chin in order to pull my head around. As soon as I feel his hand touch me I close my eyes, unwilling to look at him.

"Sara, please, look at me." he says, his voice a near whispered plea. I can feel my bottom lip tremble as I squeeze my eyes tighter shut and it's in that moment he lets me go, stepping away from me completely. In that instant I crumble to the ground, my legs giving out from underneath me so that I fall. This time no arms are there to catch me, no warmth, no nothing. Once I'm on the ground I lower my head to touch the floor, my legs underneath me and arms around my head. As I sob I can hear unsteady breathing above me, Bruce must be battling with himself so hard right now. I glance up slightly to his bare feet still in front of me and watch as the feet turn, slowly heading for the door. Just seeing this, knowing that he's leaving me breaks my heart into pieces. Replacing my forehead onto the floor I choke out,

"Please don't leave me." I hear a pause and time seems to stand still as I wait for something to happen. Hours seem to pass before I hear a 'thump' near me and raising my head again find Bruce on his knees with his head in his hands. His shoulders are trembling, soft sobs coming from him and I know he feels as bad if not worse as me. Slowly, on trembling limps I crawl over to him with a hand raised. When I reach him I let the one hand cup his covered cheek, right over his own hand. He sobs before he looks up to see me and that one look is his undoing for his arms shot out and drag me to him. It's indescribable, how I feel in that instant. All I can focus on is the fact he didn't leave me, he didn't leave me alone. I feel tears on my head as he cries, honestly cries and can feel his body trembling under his emotions.

"Don't ever leave me, please don't ever leave me again." I say into his chest and I can feel his whole body move as he nods saying,

"I won't ever leave you Sara. I promise with everything I have I will never leave you." and that's all I need to hear. Clinging onto his shirt, I feel arms pick me up bridal style before setting me on the bed ever so gently. As I'm being laid down Bruce takes the blanket in one hand, the other behind my head as I watch him slowly get into the bed beside me. The comforting scent of sandalwood and aftershave surrounds me as I cuddle into his side, my head resting on his chest as he wraps an arm around my shoulders. I let my left cheek lie against his chest and squeeze my eyes shut as a tear leaks out and falls onto his shirt. The hand around my shoulders buries itself in my hair, his lips pressing against my forehead as he mumbles out,

"I won't leave you. I will never leave you." with the sound of his heartbeat lulling me to sleep, the familiar scent soothing my nerves I at last manage to fall asleep. No nightmares come back to haunt me as I sleep in the secure embrace of Bruce, and my last thought before I completely fade out is a simple one; I love him.


	12. Epilogue

Epilogue~

When I wake there is something clinging onto my sleep shirt, a leg tangled with mine. Slowly sitting up, I look down to see its Sara with her cheek resting on my chest. Everything comes back full force from last night; JARVIS waking me up from my sleep with the words 'Sara is on the patio and she's about to jump off', the fear that grips my heart as I race out of my bedroom towards the patio, seeing her tiny figure on the ledge with arms spread out wide, grabbing onto her only to have her fight me tooth and nail. When I had pulled her safely away from the ledge she had snapped out of whatever dream she had been in, her eyes filled with so much hurt and sorrow. And then I had brought her to her bedroom and had nearly left her alone when she needed someone the most. I had nearly let her drown in her own sorrow as I had drowned in my fear. Fear for her safety, fear that she would fall, fear that she would die and leave me forever. Swallowing back a sob, I slowly untangled myself from her hold and stood from the bed turning back once to look at her. She looked like a fallen angel, her hair splayed over the pillow which she had buried her face in. As I began to head for the door I hear a soft almost unmistakable sigh from her,

"Bruce," squeezing my eyes shut I felt my heart contract with a feeling I had thought I'd never feel again. With shaky legs I forced myself to leave her room, making sure to be as quite as possible as I opened and shut the door. As soon as I was out I leaned heavily against the door, my hand covering my eyes as I sighed deeply. It was then I heard the sound of voices mingling in the kitchen and so pulling myself together headed in that direction. I wish I hadn't though, for when I got there I was met with everyone, their faces a mixture of pleading and demanding to know what had happened. With a broken sigh I shook my head letting them know I had found out nothing as to why Sara was about to kill herself.

"JARVIS, bring up the footage of Sara Williams graduation from MIT." I heard Tony say as I stood glued to the spot with my head down. Footsteps came over towards me and looking up I saw it was Natasha, her hand coming to pat my shoulder trying to comfort me.

"Here it is sir." JARVIS said cutting through the thick air like a knife. I could hear the sound of a screen turning on and so turned my head towards the sound seeing the screen appear out of the air. It was from a camera pointed at a stage, the students sitting just before the cameras position. The Dean and several heads of the school were on the stage and I instantly recognized the person walking onto the stage as Sara. She looked so young; after all she had only been sixteen as she took her graduation slip from the Dean before shaking hands with him. She looked so happy, so purely happy as she raised her fists in the air getting a cheer in responds from the crowd. A few more students went onto the stage before a scream filled the air. As the camera turned to see what was happening I felt my eyes grow wide with horror as Sara's tiny figure was engulfed with those be damned black flames. As her scream of sheer pain echoed the flames blasted outwards at everyone causing mass chaos. Just as the camera began to shake the footage cut off before going black and white, the last thing we all heard was her scream. Swallowing back all my chaotic emotions I heard Natasha saying,

"How horrible." and couldn't agree more.

"JARVIS, bring up the footage of SHIELD taking in Sara." Tony said to the AI and as it hurried to comply I turned around and managed to say,

"She didn't even know."

"How could she? I mean, she said so herself that she had no idea that was going to happen." Steve said looking down at his clenched fists.

"Sir, I have no footage of SHEILD taking in Ms. Williams but I did manage to find something else." the AI said and once more the screen came to life and we could all see a small white room with only a bed. On the bed was a toddler who again I recognized as Sara, for she had the same colored hair and those haunting eyes. The door to the room opened and in walked a younger Director Fury in his usually all black attire.

"Sara Williams, my name is Director Fury. Do you remember what happened?" the man asked the toddler who at the name slowly sat up to see the stranger.

"No mister. Where's my Momma?" the toddler Sara asked, her eyes beginning to water.

"She's not here." the Director said with his head downcast, apparently unable to look at the toddler Sara.

"Where my Daddy then?" toddler Sara asked as a few tears made their way down her chubby cheeks.

"He's not here either." Director Fury said glancing up at the now crying toddler. We all watched as he went over and sat beside the toddler Sara, his arm wrapping around her tiny frame as he said,

"Don't worry, you'll be safe here."

"That lying son of a bitch." Clint growled as the camera feed once more cut out to turn black and white. I could feel the Hulk inside me, growling and thrashing about that it had been the Director to cause Sara's pain.

"I can't believe it, all this time the Director knew of Sara's condition and did nothing to protect her. He didn't even tell her so she could be able-" but Tony was cut off by myself saying,

"He knew, and he didn't give." as my eyes narrowed I growled, but it wasn't myself who had growled, it had been the Hulk. I felt my eyes flutter shut as a hand rested itself on my shoulder, Tony's voice saying behind me,

"Go check on the kid will you?" turning my head to look at him, he smiled before giving me a slight push towards the doorway. Taking his lead, I smiled at the others before heading back to Sara's bedroom. Coming to stop in front of the door, I sighed deeply and felt the beast within calm down, the Hulk saying,

"Sara need us." Feeling a lopsided smile on my face, I opened the door and left the light off knowing she'd probably still be asleep. Slowly I went over to the bed, kneeling down on it and going to wrap an arm around her sleeping figure when I realized something was wrong. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness I found to my sheer horror the bed empty, sheets tangled and bunched together as if a fight had gone on. Trying to think of a logical reason that she'd be missing, I stood and rushed to the bathroom only to find it empty as well. Now the terror was beginning to swallow me as I searched the room for a sign, any sign of her being there.

"JARVIS?" I asked with a shaking voice, my brain trying to comprehend that Sara was missing.

"Yes sir?" the AI asked me though I noted a tone of worry in the computers voice.

"Can you locate Sara for me?" I asked it heading for the door in order to tell the other Sara had gone missing. Yet as soon as I opened the door the computerize butlers voice said,

"She's downstairs outside getting into a black Sedan, though it appears she's not going willingly."

"What?!" I demanded as I tore the door off its hinges and tearing through the hallway heard the others footsteps heading for the elevator. When I entered the living room Tony was already in his suit and heading for the patio doors calling out,

"Coming doc?" but not understanding felt an arm grab mine. Looking down I noticed it was Tony's arm and he was pulling, no, dragging me towards the glass and it shattered as we flew through it. Covering my head with my free arm, I felt glass tear at my skin as we began descending to the street and as Tony's propellers slowed us down we landed right in front of Stark Towers only to see no black Sedan anywhere near the entrance.

"JARVIS, can you find that car?" I heard Tony ask as I shook myself out of his hold. From behind us I heard footsteps running over toward us and looking back seeing the others finally arrived.

"Where's the car?" Steve asked in a voice filled with venom.

"Gone, but JARVIS did manage to get a license plate number. He's cross checking it with all the Black Sedans in NYC." Tony said removing his helmet to look back at us. It was only a short while before the AI said into Tony's earpiece,

"Sir, I was able to locate the car in question and it seems to belong to the organization known as HYDRA."

**DUN DUN DUN! The ultimate cliffhanger! Well, I hate to leave it here(but in some twisted way I love to leave it here)so ya'll are just going to have to wait for the sequel, which will be coming shortly! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERY AMAZING REVIEW! *HUGS!***


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